PrepTest 154, Section 1, Question 26
Philosopher: A person is morally responsible for an(44 more words not shown)
If the philosopher's statements are(10 more words not shown)
- AAn alternative action(19 more words not shown)
- BPeople are not(10 more words not shown)
- CA person is(18 more words not shown)
- DIf it would(20 more words not shown)
- EAn action is(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Keep the action a person performs separate from the alternative they could have chosen. The last sentence is about that alternative.
The philosopher gives us three requirements. To be morally responsible for the original action, the person must perform it freely. For that action to be free, there must be an alternative genuinely open to the person. For the alternative to count as genuinely open, performing that alternative must not be morally wrong.
Imagine labeling the original action “doing this” and the alternative “doing something else.” If doing this was free, doing something else had to be genuinely available. And that something else cannot be morally wrong under the philosopher's rule. We haven't concluded that the original action was morally right; we've identified a requirement for the alternative.
What we’re looking for
The must-be-true question lets us connect those requirements. If being free requires an open alternative, and an open alternative requires an option that isn't morally wrong, being free requires such an option too. But don't turn the chain into a guarantee of moral responsibility. Knowing what must be present for responsibility doesn't establish that merely having one of those things makes a person responsible.
Working the answers
- A
The rule for an open alternative is that performing it isn't morally wrong. That isn't the same as saying the person would be morally responsible for performing it. A substitutes moral responsibility for the actual requirement and applies it to the alternative action. The philosopher hasn't given that rule.
- B
We have no count of how many actions meet or fail these requirements. The rules could apply to many actions or relatively few; the passage doesn't tell us. A claim about most actions therefore adds a proportion we cannot derive from the chain.
- C
Having an open alternative is something a person needs for the action to be free, which in turn is needed for moral responsibility. C treats the open alternative as enough by itself to establish responsibility. The statements give us requirements, not that guarantee. Other requirements could remain unmet.
- D
This says that an action being morally wrong makes it genuinely open. The philosopher's rule points against that: an alternative can be genuinely open only if performing it is not morally wrong. A morally wrong alternative fails the requirement. D cannot be obtained by following the given relationship.
- ECorrect
Start with a free action. The second sentence requires a genuinely open alternative. Then apply the third sentence to that alternative: performing it must not be morally wrong. So an action cannot be free without an alternative that isn't morally wrong.
This connects the second and third requirements without changing their direction or mixing up the original action with the alternative. It also avoids claiming that the existence of a morally acceptable alternative guarantees freedom or responsibility; the answer states only what freedom requires.
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